Koenigsegg Agera RS Breaks Production Car Speed Record at 277.9 MPH

Just days after the debut of the Hennessey Venom F5, a car touted by its maker as being capable of 300-plus mph, a group of Koenigsegg owners organized an event to try and set a new production car top speed record--and they succeeded. A new Koenigsegg Agera RS went an average of 277.9 mph over two runs—beating the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport's record speed of 267.855 mph that has stood since 2010.

Our friends at AUTOMOBILE were on site for the attempt, which was set up by Koenigsegg owners Jeffrey Cheng, Mark Stidham, and John Morris. The trials were carried out on a closed-off 12-mile stretch of Nevada State Route 160 near Pahrump. Founder of the Swedish supercar maker Christian von Koenigsegg was also in attendance to witness the record attempt, and test driver Niklas Lilja was there to pilot the brand new 1,360-hp, 1,011-lb-ft Agera RS, which belonged to Stidham. In the video below, you'll see the Agera RS actually hit 284 mph on its first run, or 284.6 mph as verified by two RaceLogic Vbox data loggers. But since the car only hit 277.2 mph on its second run, the average of the two attempts works out to 277.9 mph. Because the crew conducted two runs and averaged the speed, the feat is eligible for consideration by Guinness World Records, though the organization must first confirm the record.

A Koenigsegg Agera RS driven by factory driver Niklas Lilja has recorded a 2-way avg speed of 444.6 km/h (277.9 mph). A new world record!pic.twitter.com/FXUjKpTW1q @koenigsegg Nov 04 2017

Though it's not quite 300 mph, 277.9 is pretty darn close. Can Hennessey or Bugatti top that number? Hopefully we'll find out when the Bugatti Chiron conducts its own top speed trials in 2018, and when the Venom F5 goes for more than 300 mph in 2019 or 2020.

We reached out to Bugatti for comment on the record.

"Bugatti congratulates Koenigsegg on this achievement," the automaker said in an emailed statement. "Unfortunately, we do not yet have any information on the details of the record drive but we are pleased to see that several super sports car manufacturers have entered the competition for records in the high speed range. As announced at the Frankfurt International Motor Show a few weeks ago, Bugatti will be making its next high speed drive in 2018. In the future, we will maintain our philosophy of building a production super sports car that is not only designed for maximum speed but also meets the highest possible demands in terms of luxury, comfort, everyday drivability and durability. The new Chiron combines the best in all these areas which makes it the world's most complete super sports car and a unique concept. The Chiron is strictly limited to 500 vehicles, more than 300 of which have already been sold-a true success story."

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We also reached out to Hennessey Specialty Vehicles founder John Hennessey for his thoughts, but have yet to hear back.